Thursday Night TV on Sunday

[macaroni1213]

So, late Sunday night isn't too late for my thoughts on Thursday night TV shows, is it? Good.

I've had some time to think about both Grey's Anatomy and The Office, and my musings behind the cuts.

Since Thursday, the episode has definitely grown on me. I'm overall satisfied with the ending (Jim/Pam-wise). I just really, really, really wish they had

Comments

[cantbesilent]

I really liked the way the writers handled the Jim/Pam. What I liked is that they laced all these little things throughout the episode to remind Jim of how much he loved Pam, and to contrast her behavior with Karens. Like Pam wishing him luck and he hearing "Dunder Mifflin, this is Grace" and finally the note, which sort of made him realize how much he needed her in his life. Plus the wonderful little flashback that showed he's really "coming back." I thought it was top notch, really fantastic, but I do see your points about Karen.

I do agree about the Jan thing though. I thought it was funny, but kinda out of nowhere. I kept saying "wait, was she always like this?"

OMG CHEERS SEASON FIVE!? Have you seen it before? I'm crazy about that season, probably my favorite besides the first one. Abnormal Pyschology wins at life, and Diamond Sam and A House Is Not A Home are the sweetest. Don't watch the finale! Well, I mean, if you've never seen it watch it. I watched it when I first saw them all a few years ago, but when I got the DVDs my sister and I didn't watch it. So I haven't seen it in five years. Its sooooooooooooo depressing. I cry every time. Buckets.

[macaroni1213]

Oh I definitely like the way the writers handled Jim and Pam during the finale, I just wish their had been a bit more build up during the last couple of episodes. It just seems as if Pam's feelings weren't reciprocated at all until this final episode. But still, late-S3 Jim/Pam is growing on me haha.

Yeah, dude, S5 ROCKS MY SOCKS OFF. Chambers v. Malone is so bizarre but kaldfj so sweet at the end! And Everyone Imitates Art just makes me love them so so so much. And I actually saw the very very last bit of the finale on YouTube a while ago. Even then, before I had seen most of Sam/Diane play out, it made me cry. I'm actually worried that I won't be able to stop crying when I see it this time around...

[cantbesilent]

It did seem kinda like they were playing catch-up with Pam in the finale, since just about every talking head related back to Jim. I'm so glad its all finally over, Karen wasn't a funny character and her presence was really annoying me.

Oh my god, the end of Chambers v Malone is alufhoifjoisf and I always have to watch it a couple times in a row. Hahaha, Imitates Art "wanna make out?" that just owns me. They're the greatest ever. I always wanna watch the finale but I never let myself because it just sends me into a depression. Ugh, the song they use, "What'll I Do?" oh, its just the *worst* cause it fits so well and just kills me every time!

[macaroni1213]

So I just realized that I never actually friended you, and when I went to your profile just now I saw the "pad, pen, pen, pencil, pencil" quote and LOL you win three gold stars for that.

About the "What'll I Do?" song, I cry everytime I hear it. One time I was listening with my nana to the radio and that came on...I all but had to leave the room.

[cantbesilent]

What'll I Do kills me about ten times over. My sister too. Sometimes I play it in the car to make her freak out cause I can be a mean sister. :)

Hahaha, pad pen pen pencil pencil is probably one of my favorite Diane moments ever. It just cracks me up beyond belief. She is seriously one of the best female characters ever. Glad you liked it. :) I use to have a matching icon to go with it, but I had made it myself wasn't that crazy about it so it didn't last very long.

[macaroni1213]

Diane's definitely my favorite TV character ever. In some ways I want to be her so bad, but in other ways I would just die, if that makes any sense. But there was definitely a moment in the episode I just watched in which I actually said aloud, "Damn, Diane's a boss." She just wins, forever.

Just curious, what are your favorite Sam/Diane moments?

[cantbesilent]

Diane does win at life. People can say what they want about Shelley Long, but she was absolutly *brilliant* on that show. Really really top notch. The writing and the chemistry and the acting is just fantastic to watch. As much as I enjoy the last six seasons of the show, Rebecca doesn't really compare in my book simply because she's not as good a character. The greatness of Diane comes out of the fact that despite all her major flaws and annoyances, she's so incredibly likable.

Ah, I have like, a million favorite moments! Perhaps I can narrow it down a little. The end of Showdown II is one of my favorite scenes on TV *ever*. The kisses in Knights of the Scimitar and Cheerio Cheers make me swoon every time. Guh, the end of Diane Chambers Day. I just love the kiss and then Sam being honest and her reaction to him being honest and how he throws her purse on the floor. Bwhahahaha. In S3 when he told her that the good times with her were the best of his life, that just kills me every time cause its so open and sincere and real. The end of One Last Fling when he chases her around the room is adorable and makes me giggle like I'm 12. Just Three Friends, the whole thing. The ends of Let Me Count The Ways and Endless Slumper because I love how open and honest they let themselves get and I think it sets up the intimacy of their relationship nicely.

God, thats alot! Yours? I hardly ever get to talk about this stuff, so this is super fun for me. :)

[macaroni1213]

Haha get ready, my reply might be even longer. I have to break them up by seasons, because I'm weird like that:

What I love about S1 is that so many episodes ended with such a poignant Sam/Diane moment that really revealed the heart of their relationship. My favorite moment is the one from my icon, Sam at Eleven, because the fact that she knows nothing about baseball but still wants to hear hist story just kills me with cuteness. Other good ones are, like you said, Endless Slumper and Let Me Count the Ways, and also his line about her blue eyes in Sam's Women is amazing.

In S2, I obviously love all the apartment scenes in Power Play. And the end of Sumner's Return when she finds out he read War and Peace for her makes me smile like crazy, as does Old Flames.

The line you mentioned from S3 also kills me because gah. Also, something about when he's feeding her soup while she's trapped under the floor just gets me. And of course all of Cheerio Cheers makes me cry. That might be my favorite episode ever.

My favorite moment with them in S4 is either the one you mentioned in Diane Chambers Day or Frasier's rant about them in The Triangle. As much as I love Jim and Pam, Sam and Diane's moment of silence (and then following coversation) trumps theirs.

Annnnnnd finally, S5. The end of Everyone Imitates Art, with Diane kissing him and his (failed) attempt to deny he loves her just wins forever. Sam's little finger-beckoing-thingy at the end of Chambers v. Malone KILLS ME every time. Like, seriously. And the chasing in One Last Fling is also really really adorable. I still have five more episodes though!

Haha, told you this would be long. I too don't have a chance to talk about this with anyone, so it is quite a relief. Also, about Shelley Long. I truly don't care that much if she was a bitch. She played my favorite TV character ever, so I love her by default.

[cantbesilent]

ITA. Season One was amazing that way, they really built up an intimacy that was very believable. So much of their chemistry is sexual, and the characters often emphasize that, but they really did a fabulous job of showing two people who should never even be in the same room really, actually, getting each other.

I love the idea of both of them changing each other, especially Sam and Sam wanting to change. Wanting to become a better person, thinking more about morals and the future and all that stuff. When Diane left his character lost *alot* of direction (that I also think he got from The Coach). I like him *so* much less in the later seasons simply because his skirt chasing antics seem ridiculous and theres no one to keep him in check, to be the voice of the audience calling him on his behavior. He just regresses bigtime, its upsetting.

Oh, ITA about The Silence. When I rewatched that recently for the first time in a long time I actually sort of timed it, and it was waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than the Jim/Pam silence. The only difference is Cheers had a laugh track, so it doesn't seem as quiet. Ugh, and the convo after WINS AT LIFE! Its so them in that they don't say really anything at all and yet they say *everything* Its perfection. The whole thing is just massive perfection.

I actually have weird mixed feelings about Shelley Long that ultimatly have me shrugging my shoulders. But whenever I see Cheers I just revel in love for her because she was awesomeness x 1000. For serious.

[macaroni1213]

I love the idea of both of them changing each other, especially Sam and Sam wanting to change. Wanting to become a better person, thinking more about morals and the future and all that stuff.
What I love is that, at least in S5, you get the impression that she's a lot more invested in the relationship than he is, but he's the one who's left completely brokenhearted when she goes. She really did change him for the better (and vice versa, I think), and that's what makes the ending infinitely more upsetting for me.

When Diane left his character lost *alot* of direction (that I also think he got from The Coach). I like him *so* much less in the later seasons simply because his skirt chasing antics seem ridiculous and theres no one to keep him in check, to be the voice of the audience calling him on his behavior. He just regresses bigtime, its upsetting.

Exactly. I say that I don't watch Seasons 6-11 becaues Diane left, but it's also because Sam left, in a way. While in Seasons 1-5 he was a ladies' man, not that intelligent, etc, I still understand wanting to date him. I see what Diane sees in him. The later seasons, not so much.

About The Silence (I like the capital letters haha), I remember watching it for the first time and just being stunned. Not knowing when or what they would say just...gosh it killed me.

I actually have weird mixed feelings about Shelley Long that ultimatly have me shrugging my shoulders.
Is that because she was supposedly a diva or because the rest of her stuff wasn't good. If it's the latter, that's basically the reason why I'll only watch her in Cheers. I know that her career fizzled after she left, and I don't think I want to see her as anyone else but Diane haha.

[cantbesilent]

ITA agree with what you said here. Especially about The Silence. Its like, what do you say after that? Without having it be all cliche? But the writers of that show were all geniuses and so its per-fec-tion and so in keeping with the characters.

And yeah, Sam 6-11 is kinda a loser. He's nice and well meaning, but he gets older and the women get younger and its so weird. And the storyline about having a baby with Rebecca was horrific! AH!

My apathy about Shelley has to do with her apparently being a diva or whatnot. From what I've read, I kinda don't blame her for wanting out of the show. Cheers was kinda a boys club and they wanted to drink and party and she didn't so she didn't fit in, plus I think she's kinda alot like Diane, so people didn't like her. The same thing happened with BeBe Neuwirth and she left the show for virtually the same reasons. And then her gamble of leaving the show ended up ruining her career, so she's gets a bad wrap. But whatever happened in those years, she gave the show 110% every single episode for five years, then came back and gave 110% again. And now, Ted Danson et all give her most of the credit for the success of the show because, well, she should get credit. :)

So, yeah, her movies aren't great and people talk trash, but she gets a gold star in my book because Diane is magic (And The Money Pit is actually pretty funny and she rocks hardcore as Mrs Brady, lol)